Power-transmission gear.



PATENTED JULY17, 1906. 0. E. STEERE. POWER TRANSMISSION GEAR. APPLICATION FILED JAN.19, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

a. 6 m f NE. m w Wm W w W N0- 826,449. PATENTED JULY 17, 1906.

0. E. STEERE. POWER TRANSMISSION GEAR.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 19. 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 WITNESSES: IN VENTOf? AVON/E7 a citizen of the United States, residing at of mounting the s rangement of gearing,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE, CLARENCE E, STEERE, or MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS.

' POWER-TRANSMISSION GEAR- Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed January 19,1906. Serial No. 290,324.

No. 826,449. Patented July 17, 1906.

To all whoin, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CLARENCE to a hoisting-block, and Fig. 2 a side elevation of the same. I

The gears are carried by independentlymovable shafts 1 and 2, the former of which may for convenience be termed the powershaft and the latter the weight-shaft. The two shafts are carried by a yoke'3, havmg a cross-head 4 and de ending side arms 5, terminating in journaloxes 6 and 7, in which the shafts are mounted. The crosshead has entered thereinto a hook 8 for su porting the hoisting-block in any suitab e .manner- The journal-box 6 has on its outer face a fixed clutch member 9, which 006 erates with a slidable clutch member 10, w 'ch is slidably keyed to the shaft 1 by means of a key 11 and is movable by means of a yoke 12, actuated by a hand-lever 13, orin any other suitable manner.

he power-shaft has rotatably mounted thereon a power sheave or pulle 14, consisting of a hub 15 andchanneled r1111 16, adapted to receive the hoistin chain or cable 17, w 'ch passes around the s eave The powershaft has keyed thereto a 18, which for purposes of convenience we may assume to have thirt -two teeth. The power-sheave is provide on diametricall opposite sides with bosses 19, throu h which pass rigid stud-shafts 20, upon w ich are mounted integrally-formed planetary gearwheels 21 and 22 of diflerent diameter, the ormer of which may for purposes of illustration be assumed to have sixteenteeth, which mesh with the teeth of the power gear-wheel, and the latter of which may be assumed to have fifteen teeth, which of a weight transmission gear wheel 23, mounted on the inner end of the wei ht-shaft '2. The weight-transmission gear-wheel may be assumed to have thirty-three teeth, and it will be noted that the sum-total of the intermeshing teeth of the two sets of gear is equal in each case, the larger transmission gear-wheel meshin with the smaller planetary gear-wheel, am? vice versa. The wei httransmission gear-wheel is rigidly secured to or formed integral with the weight-sheave 24, which is rovided with a channel 25 around its perip ery for the passage of a weightcham 26, having on its end a hook 27 of the usual character. The weight-shaft is preferably provided with a peripheral flange 28, wh ch forms a housing for the gear-wheels and serves to protect them to some extent from injury from dust, dirt, or other cause.

E. STEERE,

Maywood, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,'have invented certain new and use- Improvements in Power Transmission Gears, of which the following is a specification.

The gear mechanism of the tion can be applied to any fiel desired to provide differential mission mechanism of simple of com act form, and adapted to transmit power om one shaft to another which forms a continuation of the ower-shaft and is located in the same axial line.

.The invention shown is ap lied to a hoisting block or tackle; but it be understood that the invention is not limitedto hoistin purposes, but may be applied in many diflerent ca acities. The arran ement of gears is one w 'ch allows of an in ite variation in the speed of power-transmission by merely changing the proportionate ratio of teeth between the several gears, and the device is one which when used for hoisting purposes admits of a free return by the operation of suitable clutch mechanism, adapting the hoistingblock to be dropped at a ve rapid rate, regardless of the time require v in raising it.

Another feature of the present invention is the fact that the weight serves to lock the mechanism when the clutch is thrown, so that it is not necessary to furnish a continuresent invenin which It Is Another feature of the invention is the pro vision of power and weight shafts in the same axial line,'which reatly simplifies the method liafts, provides a compact arreduces the friction to a minimum, and is on the whole a much more scientific and efficient method of transmitting power than is ordinarily employed.

The invention consists in the gear mechanism adapted to transmit differential speeds as hereinafter described, to the method of mounting the ears on shafts having the same axial line, and to the construction and arrangement of the hoisting-block to which the gear mechanism is applied in the present instance; and the invention further consists in the features of construction and combination of arts hereinafter described. and claimed.

11 t e drawin s, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view 0 the gear mechanism applied power gear-wheel mesh with the teeth.

The weight-sheave and weight-transmission gear-wheel can be either inte rally formed or rigidly secured to ether an it is immaterial whether the sl aeave revolves around the shaft or revolves with the shaft.

In operation when it is desired to lift a heavy weight by the ex enditure of a small amount of power the c utch is thrown into closed position, which locks the power-shaft within its journal-mounting and with it the power gear-Wheel 18with its thirty-two teeth. By applying power tc'the hoist'n -chain the power-sheave will be revolved and with it the two sets of planetary gears. The power gear-wheel 18 being locked will compelthe rotation of the planetary gears around their own axes. During one complete revolution of the planetary gear-wheels the sixteen toothed planetary gears will measure ofi" sixteen teeth of the thirty-two on the locked power gearwheel. During the same period the fifteentoothed planetary gear-wheels will measure off fifteen teeth of the thirty-three-toothed weight-transmission gear-wheel, which being revolubly mounted must of necessity be moved a proportionate distance. During one complete revolution ofthe power-sheave the planetarygears will be revolved around their own axes two times.

The fifteen-toothed planetary gearheels will of course be moved to the same extent, which amounts to the movement of twice fifteen or thirty teeth of the smaller planetary gear-wheel past a given point, or, in other words, the smaller planetary gear-wheel will durin one complete revolution of the power-sheave have measured off thirty teeth on the thirty-threetoothed transmission-gear wheel,which must of necessity be revolved a considerable dis tance around its axis in the direction of movement of the planetary gears to allow for the passage of thirty teeth around the periphery of a wheel having thirty-three teeth. The nearer the ratio between the two sets of intermeshing gears the less will be the proportionate movement of the Weight-sheave and the greater will be the amount of weight capa le of being raised by the expenditure of a nglinvlen amount of power. This ratio can be i 'tely varied by. changing the gearwheels, and the arrangement of gears herein explained can be quite as easily employed in the ratio of one hundred to one as 'in the ratio heretofore described. In the present instance the weight-transmi'ssion gearwheel during will have moved three teeth in the same 11116 of travel as the planetary gears, which is three-thirtieths of the number of engaging teeth on the smaller planetary when twice revolved, and the ratio of power-transmission can always be determined by dividing the total numberof engaginghteeth of the smaller planetary gear 22 by t e number of teeth representing the movement of.-the weightweight disregarding resent one revolution of the power-sheaveto revolve freely,

transmission gear-wheel 23, or', in other words, the gears give a proportionate ratio of ten to one. In the present'case the powersheave is twice the diameter of the weightsheave, so that the proportion of ten to one is increased by this circumstance to the ulti mate proportion of twenty to one; indicating that one pound of tension on the power-cham will be sufiicient to vhoist twenty pounds of loss due-to friction.

It will be noted that the smaller planetary gear meshes with the instance and that-during two 'I'QVOP' larger geaI-W-heel-inthe utions of the fifteen-toothed planetarygear around its own. axis measures off but thirtyout of thirty-three teeth on-the movable gearwheel with which it meshes. This forcesthe movable gear-wheela distance of three teeth around its own axis tion of the planetary glelars around their centerof motion, and t 's movement ofthe movable gear-wheel will be in the same-direction-that the planetary gears are travelmgh, This constitutes a lock which prevents the weight from returning b'y-the removal-of-the tension on the power-sheave, sincethetendency of the weight will beweight-transmission gear-wheel in the samedirection in w weight is being raised. cannot raise itself, so that it against a return movement. only takes place where the measured 0 movable gear-whee revolution around than theftotal number of able gear-wheel. If the the other hand, measure off more than. the number of teeth onthe movable gear-wheel, the-tendency will be to'move such gear'- wheel in a reverse the same direction, stances the weight will tend to return during one complete teeth on the =movand under these cireumwhen the tension 'isrethe central axis is. less lanetary gearsem direction. rather than inwill not a belocked, butduring the revolulieved. Eitherarrangement of-thegears can be employed, and the ratios of movement can be determined in the same-way, and in-.

some cases it will be-found advisableto employ gear-wheels of proper return movement of the weight, while in other cases it will be found-advisable to employ 'a ratio whichlockstheweight againstreturn.

By throwing. the clutch out the-shaft -1 and the power-transmission gear-will. be allowed descent of the tackle, meanwhile revolving on their own 8X6SW1thout any movement around acommo'ncenten. In describing the device ofthe present in? ventionreference that the total of one of the planetary gears with its cooperating central gear 1s equalnin' each case.

ratio to allow of a;

which permits the rapidthe planetary gears hasbeen made to the fact number of intermeshing teeth-- the . sheave, an

is obvious, however, that the same result might be obtained by dividing the size of the intermeshing teeth in one instance or the other, which of course would double the total number of intermeshing teeth without in any way changing their relation to one another. Where the term equal number of teeth is employed in the claims or elsewhere, it will be understood that such lan uage refers to cases in which theteeth in bot trains of gear are of the same size. The claims, however, are intended by this language to cover all cases in which the number of teeth in one train is merely multiplied in number and reduced in size, and that the claims are also intended to cover cases in which the same result is accomplished by mere imperfection in the mesh of one train of gear as compared with the other. It is appreciated that the total number of teeth in one train of gear as compared with the total number in the other mig t be slightly varied by allowing for a slight amount of lost motion in one case or other, and the claims are intended to cover any and all such obviously'e'quivalent arrangements which may be employed to effect the same result. It will be further understood that in calculating the total number of intermeshing teeth reference is .had' tobut one set of planetary gears, and that other sets of planetarygears of the same character may be located at different points around the circumference-of the ower-sheave for the purpose of balancing the distribution of the driving force, and that such additional gears are not to be takeninto account in calculatin the number of intermeshing teeth.

What I claim. as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1 In a hoisting mechanism, the combination of 1a sup ortmg yoke or-fram'e, a owershaft journa ed therein, a weight-sha t j ournaled therein, the two shafts ha same axial line, a power-sheave r e v fiubly mounted on the power-shaft, a ower earwheel fixedl secured to the she t, a weighta weight-transmission gearwheel, the latter havinga number of teeth proportionate to the numberv of teeth of the power gear-wheel, planetary gear-wheels carried by and revoluble with the power-sheave, j th sa'ld planetary gears having a difference in number of teeth proportionate to the number of teeth of the gear-wheels with which they. mesh, substantially asdescribed. i

2. In a hoist mechanism, the combine tion of a sup ortmg yoke orwframe a oweral d therein, aweight-sha 'jour-' shaft joum the.

.gof mtermeshing gears having less than the total number-o naled therein, the two shafts having the same axial line, a power-sheave revolubly mounted on the power-shaft, a power ear-wheel fixedly secured to the shaft, a weig t-sheave, and a weight-transmission gear-wheel, the latter havin a number of teeth proportionate to the num er of teeth of the power gearwheel, planetary gear-wheels carried by and revoluble with the power-sheave, said p anetary gears having a difference in number of teeth equal to the diiierence'in the number of teeth of the gears with which they mesh, the total number of meshing teeth bein equal in each case, substantially as describe 3. In a hoisting mechanism, the combination of a sup orting yoke or frame, a wershaft journal d therein, a weight-sha t ournaled therein, the two shafts having the same axial line, a power-sheave revolubly mounted on the power-shaft, a power ear-wheel fixedly secured to the shaft, a weig t-sheave, and a weight-transmission gear-wheel, the latter having a number of-teeth proportionate to the number of teeth of the power gearwheel, lanetary gear-wheels carried by and revolub e with the power-sheave said p anetary gears having a difference in number of teeth e ual to the'diflerence in the number of teeth 0 the gears with which they mesh, the total number of meshin teeth belngequal in each case, and a clutch or looking t e powershar't to the yoke or frame, substantially as described.

. 4. In a hoisting mechanism, the combination of a sup ortlng yokeor frame, a owershaft j ourna ed therein, a weight-aha journaled therein, the two shafts havin the-same axle line, a power-sheave revolub y mounted on the power shaft, a power gear-wheel fixedly secured to the shaft, a weight-sheave and a weight-transmission ear-wheel, planetary gear-.wheels carried y and revoluble with the power-sheave and meshing with the power and weight gear-wheels, the two sets a proportionate 'ratio to eachother for measuring off, during one complete revolution of the ower-sheave, teeth on the weight-transmission gear-wheel for rotating the weight-sheave in'the same direction as e movement of thezpower-sheave, thereby providing a lock agamst the return of the weight, substantially aadescribed. l

. CLARENCE EQSTEERE,

- WALKER BANKING, 1 Oscar; W .B 

